• The New Voter – MixedFolk Style

    August 11, 2009 // No Comments »

    In mid-June of this year, SwirlPhilly hosted Philadelphia’s first official Loving Day events.  We took a trip to the Franklin Institute for a viewin of their “RACE: Are we really so different?” exhibit. We also received permission to hold a discussion within the exhibit space. It was a great opportunity for us to share our impressions of the exhibit and how it fits into the legacy of Loving Day for us. Other topics included the fluidity and social construction of race and racial identities and the impact of being trans-national and mixed in U.S. society. We also talked about the marriage fight being waged across the country – same sex marriage.  Swirl National released talking points just a few days before the event. Individual chapters have always bridged the gap between mixed and lgbt communities, and I am so very proud and excited that we are doing so in a more intentional way.

    Another guest was the University of Maryland “News21 team” who were there to film our Loving Day events. They filmed our exhibit tour as well as the discussion. A few of us also had the opportunity to speak with them individual on the day of the event and a few weeks later. Chris and Nick came back to interview a few SwirlPhilly folk – three of us were chosen for the “Beyond Other” video segment.

    WHO:

    Chris Matthews, 25, is an M.J. candidate at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. He has interned at Fox News Channel, the Mount Hope Monitor, washingtonpost.com and Salon.com. He has reported on the U.S. Congress, Bronx politics and a hostage standoff. Matthews aspires to be a foreign correspondent and has traveled widely, including seven-month stints in Paris and Australia, where he was a semi-professional lacrosse player. He received his B.A. in political science from Kenyon College in Ohio. Born in Houston but raised in Manhattan, he is a passionate fan of the Astros, Rockets and the N.Y. football Giants. He can be reached at Christopher.Matthews@news21.com

    WHAT:

    A team of 12 journalism fellows at the University of Maryland, including two visiting fellows from the University of Missouri and University of Texas at Austin, spent the summer of 2009 taking an in-depth look at how demographic trends are influencing American voting behavior and attitudes as part of News21, a national journalism program. In addition to reporting compelling stories, their goal was to experiment with innovative ways of presenting them. They were guided and edited by a team of experienced faculty and consultants.

    So, check out the site, the Mixed Race Section and interviews by several mixed folk on “Beyond Other”, including four Swirlies!

    I would love to hear from other mixed people who were raised in a caucasian household or who are trans-national.  How does that influence the way you construct your identity?

    Posted in Diversity

    Swirl’s Mission – Front and Center

    April 11, 2009 // No Comments »

    As many of you know, Alexis Jeffcott and I recently launched the Philadelphia Chapter of Swirl.  We host a monthly Pot Luck, a time for swirlies and allies to get to know each other in a relaxed atmosphere. Several exciting events are in the works as well.  We are hosting a fieldtrip to the “America I Am” Exhibit at the National Constitution Center.

    Another conversation we have been having – Loving Day events.  In the past, Swirl Chapters have functioned autonomously from each other and from Swirl National. We hold monthly calls to keep each other informed about local activities and idea sharing. In an effort to build our holistic capacity, we began discussing the possibility of  coordinating Loving Day activities and possibly entering into collaborations with local organizations. In short, capacity building.

    What is Loving Day?

    Loving Day is an educational community project. The name comes from Loving v. Virginia (1967), the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage in the United States. Loving Day celebrations commemorate the anniversary of the Loving decision every year on or around June 12th.

    Mission Statement:

    Loving Day’s mission is to fight prejudice through education and to build a sense of community among people who engage in meaningful interracial and intercultural relationships.

    As we were pondering options, the shocking reality of Swirl’s relevance once again reared its ugly head!  While creating community is of utmost importance, challenging convetional notions of race and combating prejudice, racism and bigotry is our central aim.

    We have Obama as president, yet still live in an America where racism and racial violence – HATE CRIMES – run rampant! Last week, a California woman was the victim of race and bigotry because she had two children with a Black man. Swirl posted a solid public statement about this atrocity. I have posted it below.

    Stay tuned for a Philadelphia Loving Day announcement!

    RECENT HATE CRIME SHOULD PROMPT US TO SEE THE REALITY OF RACISM

    Jen Chau, Founder and Executive Director of Swirl, Inc.
    April 10, 2009

    Imagine swastikas and racial epithets spray-painted on your car right outside of your home. It’s scary and very upsetting.

    This describes precisely the recent hate crime committed against an interracial family in Los Alamitos, Calif., two days ago (Gleeson, 2009). As frightening and disconcerting as this is, it is important that we shake off our blinders and acknowledge the reality of racism today. We can wonder how something like this would happen in a “nice” neighborhood. We may question why these things are still happening when we have an African-American president of mixed heritage. And we could ask ourselves why people still see color.

    Or we can use our time instead to try to understand how racism continues to function in our lives in this country.

    Many of us don’t want to admit that this overwhelming problem still exists. Many declared that racism was dead in the days after Obama’s presidential win. Though change and progress are exciting, we cannot believe that racism has completely disappeared. Sometimes it is subtle and sometimes it is dormant, but we cannot be fooled into thinking it no longer exists. The shock that some of us display when a hate crime occurs is evidence that we as a people exist in severe denial. Yes, President Obama is in the White House; and we still have a huge battle with institutional racism ahead of us (e.g. the huge achievement gap in our urban public schools hasn’t magically disappeared yet; a byproduct of institutional racism).

    We must hear this terrible story and feel challenged to realistically acknowledge and think about our problems with racism on the individual, cultural and institutional level. The shock that hate crimes still happen doesn’t help us to confront the problem because we are so busy thinking about the incident as a strange occurrence or an outlier. If we believe that these types of crimes don’t happen in certain areas, we don’t feel compelled to address them. Why spend time problem-solving around oddities? However, if you look at the amount of hate crimes that we experience in a year across the country, you begin to see that strange occurrence after strange occurrence adds up to a very real pattern. In 2006, there were nearly 8,000 reported hate crimes (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007). The truth and the reality remains that racism continues all around us, still. We need to confront this truth honestly and realistically instead of lulling ourselves into believing that racism happens in pockets and doesn’t have a real hold on us.

    In this moment, let’s follow Teri Barber’s lead – if she is willing to leave her vandalized car in the street for all to see, we should be able to confront the truth of racism along with her.

    References:

    Federal Bureau of Investigations (2007, November 19). Hate crime in the U.S.: New stats and a continuing mission. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/page2/nov07/hatecrime111907.html

    Gleeson, G. (2009, April 8). Epithets painted on mixed-race family car. Retrieved from http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/orange_county&id=6752164

    Posted in Diversity, Racism